La Flor de mi Secreto (the Flower of my Secret)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar Spain, 1995 You get the very distinct sense when watching La Flor that Almodóvar is onto something. And so the maturity and virtuosity of his output has increased with each film ever since. As a writer of great female parts, he’s blessed here with a strong performance from Marisa Paredes who as the protagonista Leo [...] More about La Flor de mi Secreto (the Flower of my Secret)
Frida
Director: Julie Taymor United States, 2002 Frida is almost brilliant. For a start, it has to be one of the most beautifully shot films this decade, thanks in no small part to the prodigal cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who adds these triumphant visuals to his impressive list (Babel, Brokeback Mountain, 21 Grams, Amores Perros). Elliot Goldenthal’s soundtrack, enhanced [...] More about Frida
Memories of Murder
Director: Bong Joon Ho Korea, 2003 Korean cinema is alive and kicking, emboldened and naive like a headstrong teenager with something to prove. One driver is undoubtedly a gutsy brew of high melodrama and truthful acting. Another might be that uniquely Korean gift for all things epic: simple, emotive storytelling with a keen directing wit. Song Kang Ho [...] More about Memories of Murder
Ocean’s Thirteen
Director: Steven Soderbergh United States, 2007 From far away you can hear the overhead lines crackling across the desert as they stretch through the arid expanses of Nevada toward the mirage glow of Las Vegas. That crackling, it’s the sound of Messrs Clooney, Pitt, Damon et al phoning their lines in. If you put a scene’s worth of [...] More about Ocean’s Thirteen
Shaun of the Dead
Director: Edgar Wright United Kingdom, 2004 Perhaps it’s because British comedies are more enjoyable on the small screen - when you can have a curry and a few tins of lager and not concentrate too much on their frequent flaws - that I got on with Shaun of the Dead much better than its successor Hot Fuzz. Working [...] More about Shaun of the Dead
Ronin
Director: John Frankenheimer United States, 1998 Ronin is the sort of movie whose mere suggestion would provoke a Pavlov’s Dog reaction amongst most serious moviegoers. Beautifully shot on location in Paris and France Sud and featuring a multinational cast, it was a juicy prospect on its release. But while John Frankenheimer’s direction captures that certain je ne [...] More about Ronin
The Maltese Falcon
Director: John Huston United States, 1941 Huston’s directorial debut is a detective story about the pursuit of the titular avian, a priceless ornament whose origins are engagingly described by Sydney Greenstreet’s portly treasure hunter. The bejewelled bird, lost in history between the Knights of Malta and the Crown of Spain, has popped up once more in Istanbul [...] More about The Maltese Falcon
Malèna
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Italy, 2000 It’s tempting to think of Malèna as a shrink-wrapped, ultra-compact, bitesize companion piece to Tornatore’s meandering, elegiac ode to movies Cinema Paradiso. But while both pictures feature protagonists still in the grip of childhood, what drives young Renato here is something less innocent and more erotic. For what’s barely hinted at in [...] More about Malèna
Zodiac
Director: David Fincher United States, 2007 The identity of the perpetrator of five serial murders claimed by the so-called “Zodiac” killer remains a mystery. Inevitably the case has preoccupied the popular media, most famously in the analogy drawn by the “Scorpio” plotline in Dirty Harry. Newspaper cartoonist turned super sleuth Robert Graysmith documents the real-life hunt for [...] More about Zodiac
The Paper
Director: Ron Howard United States, 1994 As a screenwriter David Koepp has been around. He’s written some terrific scripts and some not so terrific. His work on The Paper, alongside brother Stephen, manages to reach both extremes. Suddenly put in charge while chasing a big story, workaholic newspaper editor Michael Keaton is forced to choose between the job [...] More about The Paper
